Mystery Man
by six-jinx
Summary: Fairy Tail is threatened by Phantom Lord and they are about to destroy the guild. What will happen when a strange man steps in. Is he friend or foe?
1. Chapter 1

A man climbed over the top of a hill and looked over a city that was located next to the ocean. The man was wearing a long black coat with a hood that covered his face in an eerie shadow. All you could see was a sly smile creep across his face. "Finally made it," he said.

Meanwhile, in the Fairy Tail guild hall, wizards crowded the basement, preparing an attack on phantom lord. Mirajane was begging Laxus to help while Erza took a shower, cursing herself for letting master get hurt and then retreating like a coward. Natsu walked into the basement carrying Lucy on his back and Happy flew in after him. They were swarmed by their fellow members, asking if Lucy was ok or if phantom lord had hurt her. She started to cry seeing so many people who cared about her and were willing to fight on her behalf. She felt as if this was all her fault, and that the guild would be better off without her.

"None of this is your fault," said Natsu, as if reading her mind. He looked at her with kind and caring eyes. All of her fear and guilt washed away, she always felt safe when she was with him.

"Natsu," she said softly. All of a sudden a loud bang shook the ground and the basement fell silent.

"Outside, quickly!" shouted Alzack with fear in his eyes.

Everyone rushed outside, including Erza who did not finish her shower and was only wearing a towel. What they say made everyone gasp. A castle was approaching them from the ocean on mechanical legs. Every step it took made the ground shake, and caused large waves to crash into the shore. Once it was close enough it stopped moving and sat down. The front wall lowered and a massive cannon head extended outward toward the already crippled guild. A loud hum was heard throughout the town as the Jupiter cannon charged up, preparing to fire.

"Everyone behind me, NOW!" screamed Erza. "Requip!"

"That's her adamantium armor," said Happy, "is she planning on blocking it?"

Right after Erza requiped, the cannon fired. Erza raised her shield and a large, teal, magic circle appeared in front of her. The cannon blast slammed into the magic circle, the force of the impact pushing Erza back a few feet. Her armor began to crack under the pressure of the blast. She could not hold out much longer. She gritted her teeth, refusing to let any one of her guild mates get hurt. Her armor was slowly breaking until it completely cracked. Erza let out a scream of pain while she flew backwards, pieces of her shredded armor still attached to her limbs. She managed to block the cannon blast but she was out cold, no longer able to fight.

The guild looked in horror as its strongest member was defeated in a matter of seconds. Lucy couldn't take it anymore; one of her teammates and best friend had fallen right before her eyes trying to protect her. She stood there crying.

A voice from the castle said through a loud speaker, "Give us Lucy Heartfilia. You have 15 minutes before we fire the Jupiter cannon again." An eerie silence came over the scene. Lucy was about to walk up to the castle and surrender herself when a hand was placed on her shoulder. She turned around to see Natsu.

"We aren't going to turn you over to these creeps. YOU HEAR THAT? LUCY IS ONE OF US AND WE WILL NEVER ABANDON HER!" he yelled at the castle. This was followed by a loud roar of approval by the rest of the guild.

"Insolence! You will pay for this!" shouted the voice on the loudspeaker. Soon after ghosts started to pour out of the castle. There were hundreds of the cloaked skeletons flying around. The guild members started attacking the ghosts and a battle soon enraged.

"Come on, I'm taking you somewhere safe," Natsu said as he grabbed Lucy's hand and ran away from the guild. They ran to the nearest safe house where Natsu looked after her.

"Natsu," Lucy said, tears forming in her eyes.

"Yea, you need something?" Natsu said.

"Thank you, for everything. You are always there to save me, and I can never do anything to repay you. I am always just a burden, and you have to carry me." She said, tears now running down her cheeks.

"Don't cry. It will make Erza's sacrifice mean nothing if we are weak. And know that no one in the guild thinks that. You are essential to our team; we would not be nearly as strong without you." He said, comforting her.

She laid her head on his shoulder and fought off tears. "Thank you, Natsu." The warmth of his body comforted her until she fell asleep.

Back at the guild, the battle ensued, both sides at a stalemate. The ghosts were not strong enough to defeat them, but there were so many ghosts, that the guild could not launch a counter attack, and the clock was ticking. If this kept up, not only would the guild be destroyed, but so would all of the members. Everyone was giving it their all, doing everything they could to fight off the ghosts. Many members were injured and the ones that were left were running out of magic. The ghosts started to retreat, flying back into the castle. Everyone let out a cheer thinking they won until the saw the cannon charging up again. Jupiter was about to fire.


	2. Chapter 2

Previously:_ Everyone let out a cheer thinking they won until the saw the cannon charging up again. Jupiter was about to fire._

The man in the cloak was wandering around town when he heard the sound of thunder. He found it odd seeing as how there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Then he heard it again, and again. He looked around confused and then he heard a sound that was louder than all the others combined. Curious, he followed the sound of the noise and came across a battlefield. He saw a group of wizards fighting against what looked like flying skeletons in cloaks. He cocked his head in confusion, looking on at this bizarre scene. He stood there, not sure what to do, until the flying ghosts started retreating. The wizards shouted in joy and appeared to have won. The man was about to leave, thinking the situation had been handled, when suddenly he heard a low hum in the air. He turned toward where the sound was coming from and was shocked to see a castle sitting in the middle of the ocean with a massive cannon sticking out from it. The cannon appeared to be charging. That would explain the sound and the loud bang before, as well as the crater in front of the battlefield. He found it strange how the crater stopped right before the guild, but he couldn't worry about that right now. He calmly started to walk to the battlefield.

The entire guild looked in horror as the cannon that took down the great Erza scarlet, queen of the fairies, began to charge again. They thought that this was surely the end of them all. Some fell to their knees and sobbed; others grabbed those dear to them and held each other tight with their eyes closed. The only person who was watching the cannon was Cana. Natsu had trusted her to lead the guild to victory and stop the cannon, but she failed. She was not able to move. She did, however, notice a man in a black cloak with a hood walk in front of them.

"If you value your life, get as far away from here as possible! They are about to fire a cannon of concentrated magic at us. Please, run, save yourself!" Cana begged. It did no good, the man continued to walk until he was directly between the cannon and the guild members. He stood at the same spot where Erza fell, the end of the massive crater created by the Jupiter cannon. The humming in the air stopped, power and energy drifted in the air around the battlefield. Jupiter had finished charging and was about to fire. Cana admitted defeat and fell to her knees, sure that she would die. She couldn't help but look at the strange man in front of her. "Why would he throw his life away" she asked to herself.

Jupiter fired. The next few seconds felt like hours. The sound of thunder roared in the air. Cana looked at the massive purple bullet of raw magic power heading towards her, along with the silhouette of the man in front of her. His cloak flapped vigorously in the wind, but he did not flinch. She sat there with tears in her eyes, accepting her fate, ready to die. Suddenly the man in the cloak raised his open hand with his palm facing the blast. The blast hit what looked like an invisible wall. An array of different colors blasted off of the wall in all different directions, but nothing was able to penetrate the wall. Cana looked on at the scene in front of her. It was both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. The man stood firm, unmoved. The blast was being stopped dead in its tracks by this mysterious person. He looked back at her and all she could see was a small smile creep across his face. Soon the blast ran out of power and the man still stood there. The rest of the guild started to realize that they were still alive and opened their eyes to see the mysterious man standing there, his hand raised. The cloaked man then closed his hand to a fist and pointed only his index finger in the direction of the castle. The air suddenly felt two times heavier than before, the amount of power in the air was insane. Then a small cylinder of orange magic, only about the size of a piece of string, came from his finger. This magic was extremely dense. It went out for about 3 inches until suddenly…It expanded to a blast of fire twice the size of the Jupiter cannon. The heat was so intense that the guild members were starting to sweat. The blast hit the castle dead on and began to incinerate anything that it touched. After about ten seconds, the man lowered his hand, his index finger smoking. The castle had a gaping hole singed in it where the cannon used to be.

The guild looked at this man with disbelief, and a hint of fear. His magic was so powerful. He just single handedly took down one of the strongest guilds in Fiore without even breaking a sweat. He turned around and started walking toward the guild. Everyone backed up in fear except for Cana. She still had not moved, mesmerized by the scene that just took place. She stood up as the man approached her. She was too shocked to even fear him. He walked toward her and was only a few feet away from her when he suddenly fell to the ground, passed out. Cana looked at the man and snapped back to reality.

"Quickly, get this man to the infirmary!"

"But Cana, how can we trust him, what if he is an enemy?" Macau asked.

"This man single handedly saved this guild. Why would he do that if he was an enemy?" Cana replied. "Just hurry up and get him inside! And send someone to go get Natsu and Lucy."

"Yea, ok." Macau said.

"Lucy, wake up, I think there is someone outside…" Natsu whispered

"Hm?" Lucy said, half asleep.

All of a sudden there was a loud bang and a dent appeared in the iron doors. Both Natsu and Lucy stood up and looked at the door. There was another bang, and then another. The doors would not hold out much longer.

"Get behind me, now!" Natsu yelled. Lucy obliged without hesitation. Natsu stood in front of Lucy, his arms extended to protect her. The doors could not take the beating anymore and swung open. Two figures stood before them. Natsu squinted trying to see who it was. The first thing he saw was a Phantom Lord mark on the man's right shoulder. The other was a woman who held an umbrella.

"Finally found you," the man said through gridded teeth.


	3. Chapter 3

Previously: _The first thing he saw was a Phantom Lord mark on the man's right shoulder. The other was a woman who held an umbrella. "Finally found you," the man said through gritted teeth._

"Who are you, what do you want?" Natsu asked.

"You don't recognize me? We fought each other when you and your friends went on a rampage in our guild." The man said

"Gajeel?" Natsu asked.

"Gehe, took you long enough pinky."

"What do you want, I already beat you once, or did you come back for seconds?" Natsu said, pounding his blazing fist.

"Gajeel, don't forget why we are here." the woman said.

"Hey, I remember you. You're the one who captured me!" screamed Lucy.

"Juvia apologizes for before. She was ordered to capture you and hopes you do not take it personally. Juvia hopes you will forgive her and that we can start fresh." Juvia said.

"Bah, this is stupid." Gajeel said with a bored expression on his face. Juvia grabbed his ear and told him to apologize or else.

"Ow, Ow, I'm sorry ok." Gajeel said while rubbing his ear.

"We have come to ask if we can join your guild. Juvia and Gajeel have nowhere to go now that our guild has been destroyed. We do not wish to fight each other anymore but instead wish to be friends. This is Juvia's goal and Gajeel feels the same way." Juvia said.

"No way, we are not taking you in after what you did to all of us!" Natsu said angrily.

"If we cannot join your guild, then we will give ourselves up as prisoners." Juvia said.

"Do we have to?" Gajeel asked. Juvia gave Gajeel a death stare and he immediately stopped complaining.

"We truly apologize for all we have done and are ready to face punishment." Juvia said. The two ex-Phantom Lord members turned themselves in and awaited their punishment. Soon after two members of Fairy Tail came to get Natsu and Lucy and were surprised to see the doors busted open and two of Phantom Lords strongest members tied up. They asked what was going on and Natsu and Lucy explained the situation. They 6 of them headed back to the guild and went to tell everyone what happened.

When they got back Lucy and Natsu were stunned to see that there was a giant hole singed in the middle of the castle. They asked what had happened and the other two guild members told them about the mysterious man who saved them.

The group entered the basement where an emergency infirmary had been set up. They put Juvia and Gajeel in a side room for the time being. The minor injuries were in the main room while the more serious cases were in the back room. There were only three patients in the back room; Master, Erza, and the mysterious man. Erza and Master seemed to be fine but the man was in critical condition.

As soon as Cana and the others carried the man into the back room they took off his hood and laid him in a bed. The first thing Cana noticed was that the man was surprisingly handsome. He had a rugged jaw line and his shoulder length, dirty blond hair fell across his face. He had a small scar on his right cheek but other than that his face was flawless. Cana took off his cloak to see what was wrong with him and when she did, she had to catch their breath. He had lean muscles and didn't appear to have any fat anywhere on his body, but that is not what surprised her. His body was covered in cuts. They varied from small cuts to a huge gash that went from his heart all the way to his right hip. He was covered in blood and his breathing was slowing.

"Quickly, get a medical wizard, NOW!" Cana screamed. Five medics ran in and started working on the man. They applied disinfectant and covered his body in bandages to try to stop the bleeding. They started to stitch up the major gash that ran across his body. Natsu and Lucy walked in and saw the man lying on the bed getting worked on.

"Is that him?" Lucy asked Cana, "The guy who saved the guild?" Cana nodded. "Will master and Erza be alright?" Cana nodded again. She was to busy thinking to say anything. She looked at the man who was barely alive, wondering how he was able to stop Jupiter and destroy Phantom Lord in his condition.

"Well we have two members of Phantom Lord who turned themselves in, what should we do?" Natsu asked.

"Wait for master to wake up. Both he and Erza should be fine by tomorrow." Cana replied.

"Yea, ok" Natsu said. He and Lucy left and headed home to get some rest after a very hectic day.

"I'll walk you home Lucy. We don't know if there are other people that are after you." Natsu said.

"Yea ok, thanks Natsu." Lucy said. They were both silent until they reached Lucy's house.

"Is something wrong Lucy? You haven't said anything the entire way back."

"It's just that the guild will continue to be attacked as long as I am here. My friends will continue to get hurt trying to protect me and there is nothing I can do to stop it. My dad will keep hiring people to capture me and take me back."

"Don't worry Lucy, I will protect you no matter what it takes." Lucy started to blush, Natsu was always there for her. He may have been incredibly dense, and annoying, and violent, and rash, but he never left her side. He would always be there to pick her up when she fell, and he would play it off like it was nothing. "Lucy, are you getting sick, you are getting kind of red."

"What, no I'm not." Lucy said, blushing even more. "I'll see you tomorrow Natsu," she said as she ran inside and quickly shut the door behind her.

"You sure are weird Lucy." Natsu said to himself. With that he turned around and walked home.


	4. Chapter 4

Previously: _"You sure are weird Lucy." Natsu said to himself. With that he turned around and walked home._

Lucy woke up in her bed feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. She started to get up when she felt a warm lump next to her under the covers. She went over to it and poked it, and it groaned. She pulled off the covers to find Natsu fast asleep in her bed. "Natsu!" she yelled, "Get out of my bed!"

"Good morning Lucy," Natsu said cheerily, rubbing his eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well I was on my way home when I thought that someone might attack you at night, so I came here and you were already asleep, so I just joined you."

"But why were you sleeping in my bed?"

"Where else would I sleep?"

"Whatever, let's just get ready and go back to the guild." With that Lucy walked into the bathroom with a blush on her face. When she finished her bath the two of them walked to the guild together.

One week passed since that day. The guild was rebuilt and taking job requests again. Both Master and Erza woke up and were back to work. Erza, Lucy, Natsu, Happy, and Gray were back together as a team, and both Juvia and Gajeel had become full members of the guild with Masters Permission. The only thing that didn't change was that the mystery man was still in a coma.

The infirmary room was crowded one day. Master, Erza, Lucy, Natsu, Happy, Gray, Mirajane, Cana, and the mystery man were all in the room. Cana was the closest to the man in the coma, sitting next to his bed on a stool. She had visited the man every day he had been hospitalized there. This was the day the doctors said he was supposed to wake up.

"What's taking so long? Why won't he wake up already?" Natsu complained.

"Patience Natsu," Master said "He will wake up when he is ready."

"Well he needs to get up alr…" Natsu was suddenly cut off.

The man's eyes shot open. Before anyone could even move he jumped out of bed and grabbed the closest person he could find. This happened to be Cana. He grabbed her by the neck with his left hand and pinned her on the wall. In his right hand he reequipped a small dagger and held it up to her heart. All this happened in the blink of an eye. No one in the room registered what happened until it was too late.

"Where am I!" the man yelled. Cana was not afraid of the man despite what he was doing. Instead she felt sorry for him. His eyes were not that of someone angry, but rather that of someone scared. They darted around the room like a caged animal, desperately searching for a way out. "Answer me!" he yelled even louder.

Nobody said anything; they were all to shocked to react. Then Master took control of the situation. "Relax son, you are safe here. You are in the Fairy Tail infirmary. No one will hurt you," he said in a very calm tone. It reached the man and he started to calm down. He looked around and assessed the situation. He saw the Fairy Tail mark on Lucy's hand and settled down. He let go of Cana and the dagger disappeared. Cana sank to the floor coughing and holding her now bruised neck. Lucy and Mirajane went over to her and helped her up. She would be fine. The man sat back down on the bed and ran his hands through his dirty blonde hair.

"I'm sorry," he said "I'm not used to waking up without any restraints."

"What are you talking about?" Erza asked.

"Well, you see I was captured by Phantom Lord a while back. They tortured me day in and day out for information. I was held in the same tower that your guild member was held in. Their escape gave me the perfect distraction so that I could make mine. For that I must thank you."

"How long were you there?" Erza asked.

"About three months I think. I lost track of time."

The rest of the room looked at him with skepticism; he had been tortured everyday for three months and he still managed to escape.

"I take it that is where you got all those wounds from." Master asked.

"Yea." He said very unenthusiastically.

"Well you are safe now." Master said. "By the way, what is your name?"

"Michael," he said, "Pleased to meet you."

"Well my name is Makarov, and this is Mirajane, Happy, Erza, Gray, Natsu, Cana, and Lucy." Michael looked up when he heard Lucy's name and stared at her for a second, then he sank his head back down. "I'm sorry but we are going to have to ask you some questions before you leave."

"Yea, I understand." He said.

"First off, what did Phantom Lord want with you?"

"I told you, they wanted information that I had."

"Well what was the information?"

"The location of Lucy Heartfilia." The room fell quiet. All eyes were shifted from Michael to Lucy.

"So you were the reason that Phantom Lord attacked us!" Natsu yelled, his fist erupting in flames.

"No, they figured out her location without my help, I did not give them any information."

"Wait, why did you know who or where Lucy was in the first place?" Natsu asked.

"Well that is a little harder to explain," he said. "My full name in Michael Jude Heartfilia, and I am Lucy's older brother."


	5. Chapter 5

_Previously: "Well that is a little harder to explain," he said. "My full name in Michael Jude Heartfilia, and I am Lucy's older brother."_

"No, I was an only child, I didn't have any siblings." Lucy said, but as she looked closer at the man she saw a slight resemblance to her father.

"I left two years after you were born," Michael explained, "I didn't run away, rather I was kicked out by dad. I was only seven when it happened, so that was about fifteen years ago. I traveled the world learning different types of magic, mostly elemental, but I always kept tabs on you, making sure you were safe. I'm sure mom and dad didn't tell you about me because I was an embarrassment to the Heartfilia name. That and they didn't want you to leave and look for me. I was on my way here to check up on you when I was captured by Phantom Lord."

"So that's why you came to Fairy Tail when you escaped, you wanted to make sure Lucy was ok." Master inquired.

"Yea, I saw that the cannon was firing on the guild so I stopped it, but it took a little more magic than I thought it would." Michael said, blushing a little from embarrassment.

"But how did you stop it?" Cana asked, "You made it look easy."

"I told you that I traveled the world studying elemental magic right. Well I sensed that the cannon blast was just concentrated elemental energy. I diverted the path of the blast away from the guild and dispersed it so it wasn't as powerful."

"So that's why it looked like it hit an invisible wall."

"Precisely. The exhausting part was the fire blast I shot back. Fire is the most offensive element and it's my strongest. That little cylinder I fired was an extremely condensed form of fire that takes years to master. Once uncondensed the cylinder expands exponentially until it is a massive blast of raw fire. However, the amount of energy it takes is enormous. That is what probably put me in the coma."

"That's amazing!" Natsu exclaimed, "You have to teach me some of your magic!"

"You must be the salamander guy I keep hearing about; they say you are a very powerful fire wizard."

"Yea, I'm the fire dragon slayer!" Natsu said very proudly.

"Sure, I'll teach you some stuff later."

Lucy had not said anything while this was going on. She was still trying to register that she had a brother. At first she was happy to know about him, but the happiness slowly turned to anger. He left her when she was a baby alone with only mom and dad. Dad ignored her and the only person in her life who loved her was mom. Then when she died, Lucy didn't have anyone. She was all alone in the world, unaware that she had a brother. If he really did care about her he would have come back for her before now. The more Lucy thought about it the angrier she became. Michael was still talking to Natsu when Lucy walked up and slapped him across the face. The room became absolutely silent and you could hear the sound of the slap echo across the room.

"Why didn't you come back before? After mom died I was all alone, why didn't you come back then?" Lucy said with tears were forming in her eyes.

The room was quiet for a while. Lucy stood there waiting for an answer. Michael slowly stood up, and began to speak with a serious tone in his voice. "I'm sorry Lucy, I know I haven't been there for you, and I know that mom's death must have been hard on you, but I knew you would find a new family. I can tell that this guild is a much better family to you than ours ever was. They all care for you and are willing to fight for you, and I can tell that you love it here too. I'm sorry for not being there for you but I promise that from now on, I will be a better brother, one that you can count on, and one that will always be there for you no matter what."

Lucy started to cry and Michael held her close. He could feel her tears trickle down her face and onto his chest. Her anger melted away in his warm embrace. He started to let go but Lucy pulled him back. "Don't leave, please," she said. Michael obliged and hugged his not so little sister. After about a minute Lucy broke away from him and wiped away her tears.

"Well let's make it official, Mirajane, get the stamp." Master said. A few moments later, Mirajane came back with the guild marker and stamped Michael on the right bicep.

"Welcome to the guild!" Mirajane said with excitement. Everyone cleared out of the infirmary and went to the main room of the guild.

"Everyone," Master yelled. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him. "Welcome the newest member of Fairy Tail, Michael!" Everyone cheered and a large party ensued. Michael was the center of attention, receiving many thanks for saving the guild and everyone's lives. People feasted and danced and there were smiles everywhere. Michael was finally able to get out of the center of the party and sat at a table in the corner. Cana walked up to him and sat down, offering him a drink.

"Here, you look like you need it," Cana said while sliding him the drink.

"Thanks," Michael said, drinking the booze.

"I should be the one thanking you, after all you saved my life."

"No, it was nothing, honestly. And I am really sorry about grabbing you before." He looked at her neck and saw the purple bruise from when he grabbed her.

"It's alright." Cana said, a little embarrassed that he caught her off guard like that.

"Maybe I can express my apology over dinner?" He said. Cana almost choked on her drink. She quickly regained her composure and played it off like nothing happened, but Michael noticed and let out a small laugh.

"Yea, that would be great." Cana said while blushing

"I'm kind of new to town so you're picking the restaurant."

"I was kind of thinking more along the lines of a bar." Cana said mischievously. Michael smiled and held up his drink for a toast. Cana met his glass happily and they drank their fill before heading home.

Michael was heading out the door when he saw Natsu walking with Lucy. "Wait up guys!" he said while chasing after them, tripping a few times on the way.

"Yea, what's up?" Natsu asked.

"If I'm going to teach you magic then I'm staying at your place." Michael said, slightly slurring his words from all the drinks he shared with Cana.

"What! Your Lucy's brother, just stay with her!" Natsu complained.

"Well if I stay with you we can start training earlier, plus Lucy's apartment doesn't have room for two people." Michael tried his best to make a puppy dog face but it was more pathetic than convincing.

"Fine." Natsu admitted defeat. Lucy giggled at the two boys arguing. "See you later Lucy, I have to drag this drunk home."

"See you two tomorrow," Lucy said as she headed home.

"Hey Natsu," Michael said

"Yea what?"

"Do you like Lucy?"

"What!" Natsu said, obviously caught off guard by the question. "Were team mates, nothing more!" but the slight blush that was appearing on his cheeks told a different story.

"Yup, you like her." With that Michael passed out and Natsu had to literally drag him home.

"Great, this fire magic better be worth it," Natsu grumbled to himself.


	6. Chapter 6

Previously: _"Yup, you like her." With that Michael passed out and Natsu had to literally drag him home._

_ "Great, this fire magic better be worth it," Natsu grumbled to himself._

"Ugh, what happened?" Michael asked while rubbing his head. "And where am I?"

"My house," replied a slightly aggravated Natsu. "You passed out from drinking too much so I had to drag you six blocks, and then you snored so loud I couldn't get any sleep!"

"Oh, sorry about that Natsu, Cana sure can drink a lot."

"No kidding, she probably drinks more than all the men in the guild combined. So, when are we going to start training?"

"What? Oh yea, training. Let me take a cold shower first, this headache is killing me."

"Yea whatever, just make it quick." Natsu walked into the kitchen and started cooking breakfast for the two of them. When Natsu finished cooking Michael came out of the bathroom, his hair still wet.

"Something smells delicious," Michael said, gravitating toward the aroma of freshly made pancakes.

"If I am going to shelter you and feed you, you need to chip in money wise, ok."

"Yea sure thing, right as soon as I get some money."

"Eat up, when we finish we start training." Natsu said. Michael was the only person Natsu met who ate as much as he did. They had about twenty pancakes each before they felt satisfied.

"That was delicious Natsu, my compliments to the chef. Now then, where should we train?"

"I have a field in the back, it has some training dummies in it."

"Perfect!" Michael exclaimed. He jumped up, cleaned his dishes, and headed out the back door. Natsu followed just as enthusiastically. They walked into a dirt field surrounded by a low three foot tall rock wall. A row of straw dummies stood at the end of the field.

"This will do nicely," Michael said. "Now watch carefully, this is the first new move I am going to teach you, it's called the brilliant blazing whips." Michael took a deep breath and raised both his arms until they were parallel to the ground. He held his hands open with his palms facing the sky, and lit a small fire in each of his hands. The fire then started to spread until both his arms were on fire. Natsu's eyes widened and he was about to run and help put out the fire, but Michael did not look like he was in pain. The fire then grew out ward until it made a ten foot whip in each hand. The fire was in a small, condensed cylinder that crackled like fireworks. Michael looked back and laughed at the look of complete awe that was on Natsu's face. He expertly waved his hands around and cracked the whips like an expert. He raised both hands over his head and made and x movement in the direction of one of the dummies. The whips followed his hands like a mirror image and struck the middle dummy with a loud crack. Michael lowered his arms and the fire dispersed until it was gone. His arms were smoking from the attack, but his arms did not have any burns on them. The dummy on the other hand had an x singed on its chest from where the whips hit it.

"That was incredible!" Natsu said with excitement in his voice. "Now let me try!" Natsu jumped up and eagerly lit his arms on fire. He tried to make the whip, but instead of having a concentrated cylinder it was a loose fire that did not resemble a whip in the slightest. He made the same x shape that Michael made but instead of singing and x in the dummy like Michael did, he only succeeded in burning it to a crisp. "Why didn't mine work?"

"Haha, don't worry, I didn't get it the first time either. Before you understand the concept of this attack, you must understand the basics of each type of elemental magic. Each element is different, they each have a basic style, but they go together in harmony."

"I don't get it," Natsu said.

"You know the four elements right?" Michael asked.

"Of course. Earth, wind, water, and fire."

"That's right, but do you know what each elemental style is based off of?"

"Um, no."

"Listen carefully. Each element is like a different personality type. Naturally, when people started to use elemental magic in fights, they based their fighting styles off the personality of each element. Let's start with earth. Earth is the most stable of all the four elements. Think of the ground that you stand on, always there, unchanged and unmoving. Because of this personality, the earth fighting style is a more defensive style. They use the earth all around them like a shield, waiting until the opponent runs out of steam before starting their attack. Next is wind. Wind is an invisible element. It is all around us and yet we are never able to touch it. It is a shy element, avoiding conflict as much as possible. Likewise, wind users are patient, evading enemy attacks until an opening appears, and then like the wind, they strike quickly and disappear again. After wind is water. Water is a very versatile element. No matter what shape the container is, water will adapt and take the shape of the container. It is also very resilient. Think of it like this, when you drop a stone in a clam body of water, it makes ripples right. Well that is because it is dispersing the force of the impact over a large surface area in order to make it less powerful. Like water itself, water magic users are very versatile and resilient. They can fight in almost any area and find an advantage for themselves. They also specialize in counter attacks. Their greatest strength is actually not theirs, it is their opponents. They take your strength and use it against you. The final element is fire. Fire is a very powerful and offensive based element, able to burn down almost anything, but the trick to fire magic is to be able to control it. In a fire mage, the source of their power is emotions. If the mage is in control of their emotions, they are able to control their fire. Emotions like anger and rage cause the fire to be uncontrollable. Granted, it makes extremely powerful flames, but those flames could turn on its caster and hurt them or the people they care about. The most powerful emotion a fire mage can have is love. When they are trying to protect someone they truly care about, they become almost unbeatable." Michael looked over to see Natsu sleeping on the ground. "Hey, wake up!"

"Huh? What, are you finished?" Natsu asked while rubbing the sand out of his eyes.

"Did you get any of that?"

"Yea, a little bit. I still don't understand why I need to know about the other three elements if all I can do is fire magic."

"Fine, tell me, based on what I told you, what element the brilliant blazing whips are most like?"

"Um, fire?"

Michael smacked his forehead with his palm, obviously annoyed at Natsu's ignorance. "No. Even though it is a fire attack, it has a wind mages mindset. The whip itself is not very powerful, but when used correctly, it can be very useful. Like the wind, you must wait for your enemy to leave an opening and evade their attacks until they do. Once you see the opening, you must quickly and skillfully attack the enemy at his vital spots. The whip is not made for fatal blows but rather to injure or incapacitate the enemy. Now that you know this, try one more time, this time focus on controlling your emotions and condensing the fire. Also, think of the fire as a wind attack."

Natsu tried again, focusing more on control rather than power. The flames looked more like a whip this time and were easier to control. He flung the whips at the dummy but it just caught on fire again. Natsu looked disappointed, but he kept trying. Michael helped him and the two spent the entire day together training. They formed a deep, inseverable bond that day. To Natsu, Michael had become a father figure, someone who would help him with his problems and give him guidance. Michael was slowing becoming a part of the Fairy Tail family.


End file.
